NISSHIN, Sept. 26 -- Seven wickets from two spinners and a composed chase. Nepal did not just beat Afghanistan at the Korogi Sports Park on Thursday - they set a tone.

The decisive move came in the middle overs, when Afghanistan looked capable of posting something closer to 130. Rajbanshi dismantled the top order before the powerplay ended - Hassan Eisakhil and Mohammad Akram both dismissed for single figures - his left-arm spin finding angles that the Afghan batters had not adjusted for. By the sixth over, the innings had already narrowed to one shape: a careful middle-order rebuild that could not fully recover from what came next.

Bhurtel walked on in the seventh over. He gives the ball air without surrendering the mystery of where it...